Blog Author

Tom Williamson has over 15 years of experience in project management, enterprise software development, and six years of cloud computing with specialized expertise in business process improvement, change management and Business Analysis. Hates zombies, clipping toenails and fighting with bullies. Follow Tom on Twitter for more insights.

A Better Life

“Alexa, turn off the lights, start the fireplace, and play some smooth jazz” …wait, my wife is out of town - scratch that. “Alexa, queue the heavy metal, fire up the grill, and order me a 12-pack of Natty Light. It’s on.” And the next morning… “Alexa, order Advil, agua fría, and a masseuse.”

Let’s recap. You like heavy metal, outdoor grilling, and Natural Light beer. What can we do with this newfound information? Enhance your surfing experience, inform every vendor on the planet, and recommend a good doctor. Your life just got better.

A Better Home

We like IoT because it allows the government cloud to gather information concerning our life and then reacts accordingly. As humanoids, we waste time keeping up with common domestic tasks and it drives us crazy! Let’s go ahead and get the items below off our plate.

The car should know when the oil needs changing. It should schedule an appointment with the mechanic and add it to my calendar when I’m available.

My HVAC system should alert me when my filter needs changed, order one, and provide installation instructions. Same goes for the refrigerator water filter.

My sprinkler system should know when the yard needs water (or not) and act accordingly.

Room temperatures, indoor/outdoor lighting, home security, and garage doors should all be automated and know what I want when I want it.

Time to get my couch potato on! My home just got better.

A Better Business

Now let’s take what we’ve learned and apply it to our business. Queue the Smart Office. It knows when you walk in, so it turns on the lights, adjusts the shading and temperature, alerts the team, logs into your computer, reads your calendar of events and to-dos, and makes suggestions on how to gain work efficiencies.

Let’s play again. Say you’ve booked a client meeting and when you walk into the meeting room the phone bridge is dialed up, the project is on with your presentation queued, there’s cold beer water on ice, and the lighting and temperature are perfect.

Now I can focus on the things that matter, like our customer, and not waste time on the mundane. Your business just got better.

A Better Customer Experience (CX)

In business, we must find competitive advantages to distinguish ourselves in the marketplace. IoT is one avenue that can open a world of advantages your competition hasn’t even contemplated.

The top priority should be Customer Experience (CX). There is no better way to keep current and get new customers. If your CX is better than the competition’s, you will instill loyalty (see Apple) and create market awareness (see Apple again). IoT can help provide the data that signals you to take action and provide your customer with a better experience.

Conclusion

We will talk security, compliance, laws, ethics, and the government on another occasion. Right now, you need to focus on Curly’s Law:

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?

Mitch: No, what is it?

Curly: This. [holds up one finger]

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean shit.